Group photo of class 1A & 1B.
I have read quite a few blogs from previous EPIK teachers who have complained about how boring the orientation was or how terrible the food was. However, I had the most amazing time at orientation and could not fault any aspect of it. Yes – I even enjoyed the classes!
To begin with, I had the BESTEST roommate I could have ever asked for. If she was a man I would date her. Hi Kayla! No seriously, within a day I felt like I had known her for years. She is fun, laidback and LOVES BIG BANG – we would often bust out silly dance moves to Big Bang songs whilst in our PJs!
Kayla & I - Roomie Loveeeeeeeee! <3
I have no idea how they choose who to be your roommate, but I think it has something to do with the order of your arrival.
Of course I also made friends with some other amazing people – Shu, Vincent, Jess C, Jess M, Lucas, Jeanie, Shelby, Manuel, Hayley etc. The list could go on so I’m sorry if I left anyone out! With these people we laughed, we whinged, we drank, we sang and had our first taste of the Korean nightlife.
The orientation was scheduled from 18 August 2014 to 26 August 2014. However, in reality the orientation really only went for 7 days as the first day was for the arrival of teachers and the final day was for the departure of teachers.
Arrival of teachers and settling into our respective dorms. Those who arrived before 6:00pm were treated to a Welcoming Dinner.
All teachers were separated into different classes noted on our name tags (which were also our breakfast passes). I was in Class 1A which was filled with mainly people placed in Seoul and Ulsan.
In the morning we were introduced to the EPIK Teachers in charge of our class – Suzie and Jun – who we all absolutely adored. They provided our group with a brief Campus Tour showing us where the cafeteria was and where our classes would be held over the next couple of days.
Later in the afternoon was the Opening Ceremony. Walter Foreman presented a speech on Korean History & Culture. I expected it to be boring but it turned out to be quite the contrary – it was engaging, informative and funny.
Walter Foreman's Lesson 101 on toilet etiquette.
There was also a stunning Taekwondo performance where men and women skilfully broke wooden boards with their arms and legs whilst leaping high into the air.
The beginning of the Taekwondo performance. I was too busy watching and forgot to capture the amazing leaps.
EPIK Teachers at the Opening Ceremony. Apparently there were over 200 teachers at the orientation in Daejeon.
A compulsory medical check-up took place in the morning. Our class was the earliest group to receive the check-up at 7:00am. No complaints about having to wake up early as we were required to fast the night before (no solids after 10:00pm and fluids after 12:00am).
I think the only word to describe this check-up would be “thorough.” As I entered the auditorium where the medical check-up was being held, I noticed the place was set up like we were about to take part in a vigorous circuit training at the gym.
There were various stations which performed the following assessments: Blood pressure test, blood test, urine test, eye exam, hearing test, weight, height and chest size check. We then had to move outside and hop onto one of the several buses to obtain an x-ray of our chest area.
To this day, I still haven't figured out why they need to obtain our chest size!
In the afternoon, we had lessons on “Storytelling” and “EPIK Duties & Regulations” which ran from 2:00pm to 5:20pm, followed by Survival Korean from 7:00pm to 8:20pm.
Lessons on “Co-Teaching” and “Lesson Planning” were held in the morning from 9:00am to 12:20pm.
Lessons on “Classroom Management” and “Classroom English How to Give Ds” were held in the afternoon after lunch from 2:00pm to 5:20pm. The lesson on Classroom Management was definitely my favourite, as the lecturer Bridget Maret told us absolutely hilarious stories of her own encounter with difficult Korean students and how should managed such behaviours.
Once again we had Survival Korean lesson from 7:00pm to 8:20pm.
This was one of my favourite days during the orientation as we went on a day trip to the Hanok Village in Jeonju.
We were provided free time in the morning, so Kayla, Shu, Vincent, Shelby and I paid the 1,000 won (approximately $1.00) entry fee and took a look inside Gyeonggijeon – the palace in commemoration of the country’s founder.
Kayla, Vincent, Shelby, Shu and I at the Gyeonggijeon.
We then strolled along the streets for some quick shopping. We walked past a quirky looking cafe where couples wrote messages on heart shaped cards and have them tied onto the building outside and along the fence.
Unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to go in as we were running late for the group photo which was to be taken outside the Jeondong Cathedral.
Not sure what the name of the cafe was but I loved the exterior.
We were then taken to a restaurant where we tried the famous Jeonju Bibimbap for lunch (apparently Bibimbap originated from there). It definitely did not disappoint.
Photo of the Bibimbap - Courtesy of Manuel's camera which I scabbed from the Class 1 Facebook page.
For those of you who do not know, Bibimbap is a bowl of warm white rice topped with namul (sautéed and seasoned vegetables) and gochujang (chilli pepper paste). A raw or fried egg and sliced meat are usually common additions.
I normally prefer the Dolsot Bibimbap (the one in a hot stone bowl) as it makes the rice crunchy. But this “ordinary” Bibimbap we had at Jeonju was far from ordinary. It was absolutely delicious. The flavours just mixed so well together... omnomnomnommm!
Why does Sydney not make this quality of Bimbimbap?
A photo of my Bibimbap after I had mixed it + all the delicious Pachim (side dishes).
After lunch we had two activities organised for our class – Learning how to make traditional paper Korean fans and learning how to play the janggu (traditional Korean drums).
Our class learning how to play the Korean drums.
Vincent and I posing like true Koreans with our handmade paper fans.
It was a super hot day and I was getting burnt like a roast chicken, so by 3:00pm I was happy to board the air-conditioned bus back to Daejeon.
Another whole day of classes.
“Lesson Planning” and “Co-teaching” lessons were held in the morning from 9:00am to 12:20pm.
“After School & Camps” and “Cooperative Learning” lessons were held in the afternoon after lunch from 2:00pm to 5:20pm.
After dinner we had our Survival Korean lesson from 7:00pm to 8:20pm.
Started the morning with a Taekwondo class. To be honest I had low expectations as I love dancing and yoga... but Taekwondo? Surprisingly I had a lot of fun!!
Shu, Kayla and I pretending to be Taekwondo pros!
At the start of the class, we were each given a uniform to change into. This was followed by a brief warm up session where we placed in pairs and had to perform various stretches together. We then practised some kicks and jabs.
The highlight was definitely when we were each given a wooden board and we had to write a goal on it which we wanted to accomplish. Then we had to break it in half with our fists.
I was super sceptical and concerned that my fist would break BEFORE the wooden board would. But... drumrolls.... I managed to break the board on my first go!!! Woohoo!
We ended the class with a massive group photo.
I am definitely considering taking up some Taekwondo classes once I have settled down in Seoul.
The rest of the day was filled with lessons on “Elementary English Education” and “English Comprehension” and time for us to prepare for the Lesson Demonstration which was scheduled the next day.
The majority of the day from 9:00am to 3:30pm was spent on Lesson Demonstration & Feedback. Earlier in the week we were all broken into groups of 2-3 and given a topic which we had to prepare a lesson plan for.
I was in a group with two lovely ladies – Ashley and Celeste! Loved our group as we all really worked well together and spent minimal time preparing what I felt was a pretty awesome lesson plan.
Our topic was “Where is my bag?” with a focus on prepositions and we started our lesson with a quick card matching game. This eased into a fun skit, followed by a Power point presentation, song and another game to review the new vocabulary.
The other EPIK teachers acted as the students as we performed our lesson demonstration. Afterwards we were given some feedback from our lecturer and the rest of our class also filled out feedback forms for us.
Whilst we were all initially quite nervous about the lesson demonstration, it is really more of a chance for us to get a feel of what it is like to prepare and run a lesson as opposed to a competency assessment. My understanding is that no one can really fail, so as long as you put it reasonable effort it should be fine.
At 3:50pm we had a meeting with our SMOE Supervisors. It was at this time where we signed our contracts and finally found out what school we would be teaching at.
My school was located in Songpa- gu. Initially I was a bit disappointed, as it appeared so far away from central Seoul where all my EPIK friends were placed.
However, I was later told by a few Korean friends that Songpa was a nice area and quite close to attractions like Lotte World, the Olympic Stadium and it is even near Gangnam. This made me feel more reassured.
This was followed by the closing ceremony and a farewell dinner. All through dinner, my friends and I were comparing locations of where our school would be.
Early in the morning we loaded our luggage onto the bus designated for each of us, and off we were to the meeting point of our respective Metropolitan Office of Education or Provincial Office of Education.
The day before we were already advised which bus number we were suppose to hop onto.
Final group photo with one of our EPIK class teacher Jun.
Now of course you are probably wondering what did we eat? I love my food and can assure you EPIK does not starve their teachers. We were provided buffet style breakfast, lunch and dinner. There was also a bonus slushy machine outside the cafeteria which my friends and I recently frequented.
However, whether you will enjoy the food is entirely different question altogether. Each meal was always accompanied with rice and Kimchi (a fermented radish dish popular in Korea).
Sample of the lunch we were provided.
I personally didn’t mind the food, but I know some teachers who were not very enthusiastic about it and often ate out instead.
KOREAN SURPRISE #2: I was really hungry one afternoon and wanted to get an iced coffee. I went to a small café inside the building where our classes were held and ordered the “coffee ice” from their menu. I remember laughing at how they had swapped the words around. However, I ended up getting coffee and shaved ice. It was delicious though but not quite the “iced coffee” I had anticipated.
The melted "coffee ice" made up of coffee powder, ice cream and shaved ice (referred to in Korea as Bing Su).
